It is pointless to appoint parliamentarians as ministers and discard the rest:PM Wickremesinghe

It is pointless to appoint parliamentarians as ministers and discard the rest:PM Wickremesinghe

Written by Staff Writer

15 Feb, 2016 | 8:48 pm

Written by Staff Writer
15 Feb, 2016 | 8:48 pm

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A workshop for parliamentarians, on sectoral oversight committees, commenced under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe.

The three-day workshop will focus on several key points and is intended to educate MPs on the function of oversight committees. Members of the UK House of Commons, Fiona Mactaggart and Richard Bacon are also participating in the workshop as resource personnel.

Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that it is pointless to appoint parliamentarians as ministers and Deputy Ministers and discard the rest. He added that they need to rid themselves from the system and give more weight to parliament since it is the parliament that adopts the constitution and decides on state policy with regard to provincial councils.

Furthermore, he added that it is the parliament that governs public finance, not the president nor the cabinet Therefore, he said, through a new constitution powers of parliament must be strengthned

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, noted that they are taking a further step towards strengthening democracy, which is the implementation of the over side committees which is” something new to Sri Lanka.”

He added that the point is that there will be power-sharing, the government and opposition will work jointly in the running of the country. He went on to note that the people wanted this, and further steps will be taken with the introduction of the oversight committee system.

Opposition Leader, R. Sampanthan stated that a wide range of functions will be perfomed commencing from the policy extending to implementation and the supervsion of the financial expenditure to ensure the money allocated has been spent on a paticular project or proposal.

He added that commissions appointed by the constitutional councils are independent bodies not functioning under the dictates of an authoritarian vindictive.

British MP, Rt. Hon. Fiona Mactaggart stated that if they are setting up a sectoral oversight committee structure in the beginning it will grow, change and develop.

He added that their delegation and the UK parliament including the Commonwealth parliamentary associations in the UK are there to support and help on the implementation of ambitious programmes.